Win 7 explorer.exe minimizes all folders

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My W7 Home Premium has suddenly changed its behavior. Double-clicking on My Computer, or right clicking within disk management and selecting Explore, results in a new minimized icon on the taskbar. These icons, if clicked, replicate themselves. I’ve attached a screen capture of this thread preparation. Note the “Computer” icon in the task bar. Clicking on it places a new minimized “Library” icon alongside, that will not open either. They never allow the contents to be displayed on the desktop (i.e. cannot be opened or maximized). I have not installed SP1 or other Windows or Microsoft Updates since Feb 11, which is also the date of the latest restore point. I have taken no restore or other repair action, other than F8 and using “Last Known Good configuration” to no avail.

Win 7 does not lockup or BSOD or display any error message boxes. It just prevents me from getting inside my folders to view files. An application like Word 2010 can open a folder and load a file, and be minimized and then maximized, but not Explorer-launched folders.

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I can suggest that you can start with,system file check here’s the link;http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1538-sfc-scannow-command-system-file-checker.html
If that doesn’t work for you try a,Repair Install this WILL NOT change or lose any data for you.Here’s the link to explain it further;http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html
BTW,welcome to the lounge & the best of luck.:cheers:

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I can suggest that you can start with,system file check here’s the link;http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1538-sfc-scannow-command-system-file-checker.html
If that doesn’t work for you try a,Repair Install this WILL NOT change or lose any data for you.Here’s the link to explain it further;http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html
BTW,welcome to the lounge & the best of luck.:cheers:

SFC/ verifyonly showed all system files’ integrity to be OK. Windows Help suggested reviewing group policy via gpedit.msc. Guess what – it too goes minimized to the task bar and cannot be accessed from there. I’m going to go the Repair Install route as I have no ideas and online searches produce no similar results from other users.

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This may be a little late if you have already tried the Repair Install, but you might have a corrupted User account. You could try creating a new one set to your preferences, and if that would work okay then delete the the one you are having problems with.

See:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2974-user-accounts.html

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This may be a little late if you have already tried the Repair Install, but you might have a corrupted User account. You could try creating a new one set to your preferences, and if that would work okay then delete the the one you are having problems with.

See:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2974-user-accounts.html

Yes, I just completed a Repair Install, and to my disbelief, the problem remains. I can pinpoint what I was doing when this happened: I had a window open (maximized) and for some dumb reason, without having opened the second window I had in mind, I did the “drag into right hand desktop edge” to set up two vertical panes. I dragged too far, or something, and the window disappeared off the desktop, but reappeared as an icon on the task bar that would not open. Strange. Why this behavior escapes an Repair Install fix (with AV and Firewall off) is a mystery.

My next step may be reimaging. Unfortunately, my images (using Terabyte Unlimited Image for Windows/DOS) are up to date for data partitions and drives, but not my C drive. The latest C drive image I have is Sep/10 so some changes will be lost. However, if it gives me a working system, I’ll do it. Anyone have any other ideas or experience before I do this?

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Have you run any malware scans?

Joe

--Joe

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Have you run any malware scans?

Joe

Ran MalwareBytes with negative results. I keep thinking there is some setting or combination of settings causing this, but then why would MS or any user ever want to make access to their own files impossible? A mouse hover over these minimized icons shows their contents via AeroPeek, but they will not maximize to the desktop (see attached).

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You can try disabling Aero Snap . Then check your operation. If OK, try enabling snap again.

Jerry

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You can try disabling Aero Snap . Then check your operation. If OK, try enabling snap again.

Jerry

Neither disabling Aero Snap alone, or choosing a basic non-Aero theme resolved the problem. Will try an older image replacement tomorrow, but skeptical given that a Repair Install failed. I also have an on-board ATI HD 4290 video that I’ll switch to from my 4670 PCIe card – maybe it is some graphics driver issue.

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SOLVED! I turned on all visual effects this morning (my normal settings are customized to improve performance) and was able to see what was actually happening. If I click on a task bar button it does open, but shoots off the right side of the desktop completely out of sight. Remember, my original action that caused this problem was moving one active window to the right too fast and it disappeared from the desktop only to appear in the task bar as a minimized button.

So, the problem is to get an open window back in view on the desktop. I found the answer here:
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows/bring-misplaced-off-screen-windows-back-to-your-desktop-keyboard-trick/

While I only have one monitor and never configured the computer otherwise, it acted like it was working with a second monitor off to the right. Weird, but resolved.

Thanks to all for the help.

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Use Winkey+right arrow key (or left arrow key) instead of the mouse to stop that happening again. I have seen this before with a colleague trying to move between monitors and ended up with a document lost in hyperspace! (Note that if a Window has been moved into the right half, Winkey+Left arrow key will return it to its original position too.)

A slightly different way to resolve the issue is to open two application windows and then right-click in the Taskbar and choose a Tile option,close one of the cascaded windows and then adjust the position of the other before maximising it again.

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Haybarn-

Congratulations! It’s quite a thrill when you figure one out and the fix works, isn’t it.

John

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You’re right about that. I will probably never know what caused the issue in the first place though. I’ve been a Windows experimenter/user since V1 (alongside Quarterdeck’s DesqView – anyone remember that one?) and I’ve come to think of it as a dog that is friendly and tirelessly devoted, except every once in a while it wakes up in the morning and bites someone for no reason.

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Just curious, did you try right-clicking the icons and choosing ‘close window’? If so, would it have opened off-screen the next time?

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Just curious, did you try right-clicking the icons and choosing ‘close window’? If so, would it have opened off-screen the next time?

Yes, I did try. It simply closed the minimized button (and what I now realize was its corresponding off desktop window). Also, I now understand why a Repair Install did not resolve the issue. It was not a bad system file, just a set of legitimate buttons showing what was off screen and therefore nothing to “repair”. The keystroke method mentioned in a previous reply was necessary because the mouse was useless.

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WARNING

I think my experience with his issue is worth an overall warning. Most people may know that Win7 allows you to resize two open windows into two equal halves of your desktop, by dragging each to opposite sides of your monitor with your mouse. This great feature becomes a significant issue if you try to do this with only a single window open, before you open the second, or if you just want a half-screen foot print. You end up pushing it farther into the screen border waiting for it to resize until it simply diappears. This can happen in a flash if you have a fast moving mouse. If your desktop settings do not include the visual enhancements of Aero, the key one being seeing the window being dragged off screen, then you will have no clue what happened (if you are as clueless as I was before figuring it out with this forums help) when your window disappears and you’re left with a button on the task bar that seems to be inoperable.

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WARNING

I think my experience with his issue is worth an overall warning. Most people may know that Win7 allows you to resize two open windows into two equal halves of your desktop, by dragging each to opposite sides of your monitor with your mouse. This great feature becomes a significant issue if you try to do this with only a single window open, before you open the second, or if you just want a half-screen foot print. You end up pushing it farther into the screen border waiting for it to resize until it simply diappears. This can happen in a flash if you have a fast moving mouse. If your desktop settings do not include the visual enhancements of Aero, the key one being seeing the window being dragged off screen, then you will have no clue what happened (if you are as clueless as I was before figuring it out with this forums help) when your window disappears and you’re left with a button on the task bar that seems to be inoperable.

I did suggest in an earlier reply to use the Winkey+right arrow (or Left arrow) as a far better alternative especially as using the commands in reverse replaces the windows in exactly their original place again.

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I did suggest in an earlier reply to use the Winkey+right arrow (or Left arrow) as a far better alternative especially as using the commands in reverse replaces the windows in exactly their original place again.

Yes you did. OK. Sorry. Since I had already resolved it another way, and was writing about what happened and why without repeating any solutions, I assumed others would read the whole thread and see both alternatives as clued in by “with this forum’s help.”

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Yes you did. OK. Sorry. Since I had already resolved it another way, and was writing about what happened and why without repeating any solutions, I assumed others would read the whole thread and see both alternatives as clued in by “with this forum’s help.”

No problemo. I was just asserting that the Winkey right/left arrow key method was not just safer but it works in both directions. Sure, you can drag a window back into position but not into exactly the same position as using the Winkey option. I’m a bit picky when it comes to the location of my windows!

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I’ve tried to replicate your problem on my desktop and laptop, but I can’t throw the window off screen in either direction. Were you using two monitors at any time in the past?

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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I’ve tried to replicate your problem on my desktop and laptop, but I can’t throw the window off screen in either direction. Were you using two monitors at any time in the past?

I’ve never had a two monitor setup. And, until very recently, I had never run Win 7 with the visual enhancement features disabled (e.g. chose not to “let windows decide”). I restored some of the animations to allow seeing what was going on – with no appreciable loss of speed given my system specs.

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Hi Everybody,

If you, like me, accessed these posts have years later, know that I had the same problem Haybarn. The cause: the use of a second monitor connected to my laptop in “extended” mode, which I could not see because it was used to display children’s movies for my little daughter. To solve the problem of folders:

1. Right click on the folders icons that are minimized in the taskbar and close all them;
2. Double-click in any folder to open it. An icon of the newly opened folder will appear on the bar and the folder will be opened in the second monitor;
3. Click on the top bar of the folder in the second monitor and drag it to the main monitor;
4. Voilà! Everything is back to normal.

Thank you Haybarn and all of you for sharing your wrong ways and avoid that all of us have had so much useless work. You inspired me to share my experiences.

Chears!

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